Electrical signatures of consciousness in the dying brain
1–10 of 24 posts
Re: Electrical signatures of consciousness in the dying brain
#2I don't know if they can claim "the first scientific framework for the near-death experience". Dr. Strassman (http://www.rickstrassman.com) experimented on humans in the mid 90's could consistently reproduce near-death experiences by administering DMT intravenously.
Re: Electrical signatures of consciousness in the dying brain
#3"“It will form the foundation for future human studies investigating mental experiences occurring in the dying brain, including seeing light during cardiac arrest,” she says."
I am a big fan of science and research - and I think we should always be questioning everything. But I'm curious to know what benefits this research has. I genuinely don't know where this kind of research could lead so I'm not naive enough to suggest it's not a good use of time or resources, but how can this help us improve our lives, health and world? Does it matter? Not to be crass, but are those last vestiges of electrical energy in a dying brain going to be of any use?
Re: Electrical signatures of consciousness in the dying brain
#4"“It will form the foundation for future human studies investigating mental experiences occurring in the dying brain, including seeing light during cardiac arrest,” she says." I am a big fan of science and research - and I think we should always be questioning everything. But I'm curious to know what benefits this research has. I genuinely don't know where this kind of research could lead so I'm not naive enough to s…
Demanding that research show immediate practicality is a good way to end up doing no meaningful research whatsoever.
Virtually every major discovery in the past hundred years (if not more) stems from research that had no obvious direct application. The biggest benefit of the post-industrial society is being able to spend time on things that aren't immediately useful, but potentially have greater benefits further down the road.
Re: Electrical signatures of consciousness in the dying brain
#5"“It will form the foundation for future human studies investigating mental experiences occurring in the dying brain, including seeing light during cardiac arrest,” she says." I am a big fan of science and research - and I think we should always be questioning everything. But I'm curious to know what benefits this research has. I genuinely don't know where this kind of research could lead so I'm not naive enough to s…
Demanding that research show immediate practicality is a good way to end up doing no meaningful research whatsoever. Virtually every major discovery in the past hundred years (if not more) stems from research that had no obvious direct application. The biggest benefit of the post-industrial society is being able to spend time on things that aren't immediately useful, but potentially have greater benefits further down…
Keep in mind that "All breakthroughs are derived from basic research" (if true) doesn't entail "All basic research leads to breakthroughs".
We still need to judge the merit of basic research; in this case I'm slightly more skeptical as to its potential to unravel, well, anything about the mind at all.
Re: Electrical signatures of consciousness in the dying brain
#6"“It will form the foundation for future human studies investigating mental experiences occurring in the dying brain, including seeing light during cardiac arrest,” she says." I am a big fan of science and research - and I think we should always be questioning everything. But I'm curious to know what benefits this research has. I genuinely don't know where this kind of research could lead so I'm not naive enough to s…
A whole lot of seemingly useless science does end up being useful later on in ways we don't imagine. I doubt Mersenne and Fermat envisioned their work being used to secure banking transactions. However, mathematics is typically harmless to animals, so it doesn't really matter if it never ends up being useful. This study was both immediately useless _and_ harmful.
The UofM ethics board must really be a rubber stamp if it approves asphyxiating and shocking to death a bunch of rats just to study near-death experiences.
Re: Electrical signatures of consciousness in the dying brain
#7"“It will form the foundation for future human studies investigating mental experiences occurring in the dying brain, including seeing light during cardiac arrest,” she says." I am a big fan of science and research - and I think we should always be questioning everything. But I'm curious to know what benefits this research has. I genuinely don't know where this kind of research could lead so I'm not naive enough to s…
This reminds of when I read Stiff (an amazing book, by the way) [0], and how scientists in the good old days were weighing bodies before and after death, trying to find a weight of the soul, or any other quantitative values for the soul. I found that funny, but off-putting and disturbing.
My take: people are looking for any proof of the afterlife, holding onto a sliver hope proven by any scientific, factual account. I call the gamble on the afterlife faith, and why it cannot be guaranteed, but hey, that is way out of the scope of this conversation.
[0] http://www.amazon.com/Stiff-Curious-Lives-Human-Cadavers/dp/...
Re: Electrical signatures of consciousness in the dying brain
#8I don't know if they can claim "the first scientific framework for the near-death experience". Dr. Strassman ( http://www.rickstrassman.com ) experimented on humans in the mid 90's could consistently reproduce near-death experiences by administering DMT intravenously.
Having administered DMT intravenously to myself... an NDE isn't a bad way of putting it, to be honest.
Re: Electrical signatures of consciousness in the dying brain
#9How are we to know what happens after death?
If electrical energy is what constitutes brain activity, then what happens to that energy when death occurs?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_law_of_thermodynamics
What is the transformation that takes place, if any?
Is there more to existence than we are capable of understanding?
Re: Electrical signatures of consciousness in the dying brain
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
Demanding that research show immediate practicality is a good way to end up doing no meaningful research whatsoever. Virtually every major discovery in the past hundred years (if not more) stems from research that had no obvious direct application. The biggest benefit of the post-industrial society is being able to spend time on things that aren't immediately useful, but potentially have greater benefits further down…
Keep in mind that "All breakthroughs are derived from basic research" (if true) doesn't entail "All basic research leads to breakthroughs". We still need to judge the merit of basic research; in this case I'm slightly more skeptical as to its potential to unravel, well, anything about the mind at all.
I'm not saying that it is - but research for its own sake is worthwhile, even if you don't know beforehand how earthshaking the results will be.
Sure, sometimes you swing and you miss, but if that makes you too scared to swing at all then you're never going to hit anything.